Electric Motorcycle Inventor Crashes at Wired Conference 337
not5150 writes "The inventor of the electric 'KillaCycle" motorcycle was taken to the hospital for x-rays after demonstrating the vehicle to reporters. Bill Dube, a government scientist during the day and bike builder at night, attempted a burnout in front of the Los Angeles Convention Center during the Wired NextFest fair. Fueled by the "most powerful" lithium-ion batteries in the world, the bike accelerated uncontrollably into another car. There's a video interview (thankfully before the crash) and footage of Dube crashing."
hmm. (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm still waiting for my live action Akira bike
http://www.burningart.com/meico/moto/akira/ [burningart.com]
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fplusd.itmedia.co.jp%2Flifestyle%2Farticles%2F0404%2F02%2Fnews040.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8 [google.com]
http://negatendo.net/kmc/en_neo_fukuoka.htm [negatendo.net]
And the eye candy who was hired to sit on the bike was quite nice. Sorry that's amazingly un-PC of me and I apologize.
Killacycle (Score:2, Interesting)
Name.....
Ever!
Probably On Purpose (Score:1, Interesting)
"I can't wait to get my hands on that bad boy!"
Re:0-60 in less than a second (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyway, you mentioned the railway engine's AC-DC-AC drive. Now, to run on DC, just skip the first rectifier: you can run the inverters directly on DC. In fact, many railroads do just that. There are lower-powered inverters and motors available for lighter-duty applications. Did you know your average "brushless DC" CPU fan is in effect an induction motor with an integrated drive?
So, if you have a 500 V battery pack capable of 10 A, just slap a 5 kW drive with a suitable control input and a 5 kW induction motor on it and you're basically done. (Select ratings to suit application and products.) Ask your supplier for more information.
Re:Just needed stiches (Score:2, Interesting)
There's nothing you can say here that will justify not wearing a helmet.
I recently put a new seat on my Ducati. I wanted to test it, but I was only taking to the end of my street and back. As I left the driveway, I hit an acorn (yes a fucking acorn) that had been smashed, lost the front, and went down. Low speed, no problems, but I banged my head pretty hard, hard enough to send me to the hospital.
That is, if I had been dumb enough to listen to the inner voice that said "I don't need to wear a helmet because...". Luckily, I'm not that dumb and I did wear my helmet, so I got up and walked away.
Re:More seriously, though (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:More seriously, though (Score:3, Interesting)
Point being, you *still* need gears using a rotary engine in a car, so both points still stand 100%.